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Friday, 24 October 2014

#BoardGameHour Games in detail

We are going to try something a little different on Mondays #BoardGameHour
The plan is to look in detail at two games. One a classic and one a new kid on the block.

Why two games? Why these?

I asked what games you would like to talk about and these where two popular choices. They both have lots of depth, so there is lots to talk about. I think an hour on just one game would be to much. I want to try this format and find out what you think. Hope it works and you enjoy the chat. I am confident that weather you know the games or not you will have fun. If you don't know the games, please ask questions and get involved anyway!

The game is set in the Burgundy region of High Medieval France. Each player takes on the role of an aristocrat, originally controlling a small princedom. While playing they aim to build settlements and powerful castles, practice trade along the river, exploit silver mines, and use the knowledge of travelers.

The game is about players taking settlement tiles from the game board and placing them into their princedom which is represented by the player board. Every tile has a function that starts when the tile is placed in the princedom. The princedom itself consists of several regions, each of which demands its own type of settlement tile.

The game is played in five phases, each consisting of five rounds. Each phase begins with the game board stocked with settlement tiles and goods tiles. At the beginning of each round all players roll their two dice, and the player who is currently first in turn order rolls a goods placement die. A goods tile is made available on the game board according to the roll of the goods die. During each round players take their turns in the current turn order. During his turn, a player may perform any two of the four possible types of actions: 1) take a settlement tile from the numbered depot on the game board corresponding to one of his dice and place it in the staging area on his player board, 2) take a settlement tile from the staging area of his player board to a space on his player board with a number matching one of his dice in the corresponding region for the type of tile and adjacent to a previously placed settlement tile, 3) deliver goods with a number matching one of his dice, or 4) take worker tokens which allow the player to adjust the roll of his dice. In addition to these actions a player may buy a settlement tile from the central depot on the game board and place it in the staging area on his player board. If an action triggers the award of victory points, those points are immediately recorded. Each settlement tile offers a benefit, additional actions, additional money, advancement on the turn order track, more goods tiles, die roll adjustment or victory points. Bonus victory points are awarded for filling a region with settlement tiles.

The game ends when the last player finishes his turn of the fifth round of the fifth phase. Victory points are awarded for unused money and workers, and undelivered goods. Bonus victory points from certain settlement tiles are awarded at the end of the game.

Lords of War is a dual-deck strategic card game for two-plus players which sees fantasy races engage in dynamic, tactical card battles.Orcs versus Dwarves was the first Lords of War game to be released, in December 2012, at the Dragonmeet Game Fair in London. The game went on to win the Best Strategic Card Game Award at the UK Games Expo 2013, along with Lords of War: Elves versus Lizardmen.

During Lords of War battles players use hands of 6 units, drawn from their total 'army' of 36 cards, playing one card per turn at the start of their turn.

Cards have unique formations of Attack Arrows on their edges and corners signifying which adjacent cards they attack once played, and the damage they will do. Some cards also have Ranged Attack values. Each card then has a Defence value which, when exceeded by attacking cards, sees that card defeated.

At the end of a player's turn, once combat has been resolved, the player can then either draw a new card from their army deck to return their hand back up to 6 or retreat a unit that has not engaged in combat during that turn.

The game is playable out of the box and contains two complete armies - the Orcs and the Dwarves.

These factions are differentiated by their exclusive cards and strategies; the Dwarf faction plays more defensively, using some Ranged cards and powerful Berserker units to pick-off assailants, while the Orc army encourages players to attack more vigorously, often committing kamikaze moves to their tactical advantage.

Orcs versus Dwarves is cross-compatible with Elves versus Lizardmen, meaning that all the Lords of War armies can be used to battle one another. The armies can also be blended together, using a strict Ranking System, to create Mercenary decks for tournament play.